This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To order
presentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distribution
to colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire about
permissions/licensing, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com

OTTAWA—Prime Minister Justin Trudeau acknowledged Wednesday that there are still “a lot of questions” surrounding Brampton East MP Raj Grewal that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are trying to answer, as opposition MPs demanded to know when he first learned of the troubled politician’s gambling debts.

Responding to questions in the House of Commons, Trudeau said he first learned of the Liberal MP’s situation at some point last week.

“We know there are still a lot of questions on which the RCMP is working to get answers,” the prime minister said in French. “We have confidence the RCMP will do the appropriate work to fully understand what happened.”

Grewal announced last Thursday that he will step down as MP for Brampton East, citing undisclosed “personal and medical reasons.” The Prime Minister’s Office admitted the following day that Grewal would resign after informing them he had a gambling problem and had incurred “significant personal debts.”

After Elections Canada confirmed Grewal still hasn’t officially stepped down as of Wednesday, Conservative MP Peter Kent called for his immediate resignation. He pointed to a Globe and Mail report about Grewal’s actions when he sat on the House of Commons finance committee earlier this year. He said the report suggests Grewal was “asking self-serving questions” about money laundering to high ranking officials.

This comes after the Globe and Mail, citing unnamed sources, reported Fintrac, the government agency responsible for tracking money laundering, tipped off the RCMP about Grewal’s gambling activities.

Fintrac declined to answer questions about Grewal from the Star, saying federal law prevents it from “commenting on compliance enforcement actions that may or may not have been undertaken.”

According to a transcript of a finance committee meeting June 20, Grewal asked officials from the Finance Department: “Would there be a scenario in which a financial institution would provide what they think is a suspicious transaction to Fintrac, Fintrac would launch an investigation, but the individual account holder would never know that this was taking place?”

The responding officials said Fintrac passes “suspicious” information to relevant law enforcement or tax authorities, and that the agency is careful “not to tip off a person on whom they are filing a suspicious report, because down the line it could lead to an investigation.”

In mid-September, Grewal was shuffled to the health committee.

Mark Holland, who oversees committee assignments for the Liberals as chief government whip, said the move had nothing to do with questions about Grewal’s gambling habits or alleged police investigations.

“We make changes all the time to committee and obviously the reasons are confidential but I can confirm that it had nothing to do with the matter that is before us,” said Holland.

Holland said he had no indication at the time that Grewal may have been under investigation.

“There’s a bunch of different reasons why someone might change committees. There’s internal machinations that we don’t discuss, but it was of that ilk,” he said.

Meanwhile, The Canadian Press reported Wednesday night that word of Grewal’s gambling debts came to the attention of the Ontario Provincial Police during a broader investigation into potential money laundering and drug money that was to be transferred to an extremist group in the Middle East. Citing an unnamed source, the report said Grewal’s gambling debts were mentioned in conversations captured on police wiretaps.

Get more politics insight in your inbox

Grewal’s ethics disclosure with Dion’s office shows he has received “employment income” from that firm, ZGemi Inc., since he was elected in 2015. Grewal has said his “business relationship” with the chief executive was cleared by the ethics commissioner.

Trudeau’s office said last week that it is aware of RCMP inquiries into the matter.

More from The Star & Partners

More Politics

Top Stories

Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. All
rights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content is
expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Toronto
Star Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies of
Toronto Star articles, please go to: www.TorontoStarReprints.com